Review: Platatac - Cool Under Tactical Shirt

Here's an item I had completely overlooked in the back of Tactical Baby's wardrobe (where I've taken to storing my less-often worn gear, as she hasn't yet accumulated a whole lot of outfits, and only the one camo vets ...) I pulled it out as part of a upcoming post detailing different camo in an Australian setting. I wanted to test out DPM pattern and remembered I had a shirt to go with my pants. It turns out that shirt was one of the very cool 

Platatac’s CUTS (Cool Under Tactical Shirt) and I wanted to tell you a thing to two about the CUTS design.

The CUTS Special Projects is Platatac's next generation in under armour tactical uniform shirts.

The CUTS are specifically designed as an improvement over standard BDU shirts, with lightweight, moisture wicking fabric in areas where body armour contacts the body. This aims to promote cooling when using body armour in hot environments.

The shoulders are constructed from 3D air mesh giving padding for both comfort when using load bearing equipment and airflow.

The sleeves are constructed from a heavy 100% Cotton ripstop fabric which is built to last. The sleeves also feature upper arm pockets with two sets of loop-fields each allowing the attachment of multiple patches and also include a webbing flap allowing the wearer to secret a IR Square with minimal effort.

On the version I have, there is also a axillary pocket on the left forearm for use as a map panel, much like the wrist mounted Recce wrist pouch , as well as twin elbow patches, which will take elbow pads, and are held in place by hook-and-loop tabs.

The cuffs are able to be cinched in with hook-and-loop straps to eliminate drafts and cover up exposed skin.  The neckline has a half-zip, to give you good venting when you need, and also features a hook-and-loop fixing mandarin high-collar, which keeps stray brass, grit and bugs out.

It has a really good, long fit, something I really look for in a shirt, as I have a long body, and even longer arms so having a full length shirt keeps my shirt tails tucked in, and my wrists covered up.

The material on the torso is very comfortable, especially under load, and whilst the cotton of the sleeves is fairly heavy, they bear up to rough use really well. I've crawled around in the scrub and run through brush with this, and had not had any trouble.

These are a pretty technical garment, but if you find yourself in rough environments, wearing packs or chest-rigs this is the kind of shirt you'll want to have.